


Someday, Somehow

by mauvemaven



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Abduction, Alpha Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Atypical Alpha Ben Solo, Breeding Kink, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Fuck Or Die, Hux and Rey are siblings, Inappropriate Use of the Force, Kidnapping, Lots and lots of Secrets, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Mayhem, Medical Conditions, Medical Procedures, Minor Character Death, Modern Setting, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Rey (Star Wars), Prince Ben Solo, Protective Ben Solo, Pseudoscience, Romance, Secrets, Unconsciously acting like an old mated couple, Unreliable Narrator, Unsafe for those triggered by pregnancy, Will tag more as story develops - Freeform, dubcon, mention of minor character deaths, no beta we die like men, suppressed memories
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-10
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:48:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27926248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mauvemaven/pseuds/mauvemaven
Summary: Childhood best friends Ben and Rey are torn apart by a bitter tragedy. Now, thrown together by circumstances ten years later, they try to navigate the complexities of friendship, love and duty even as dark secrets threaten to upset their new and fragile beginning.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Kylo Ren/Rey, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 8
Kudos: 75





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first time I’ve written for this ship (and the Star Wars fandom) so I’m kind of a bit nervous. This started out as plot bunny (that’s been bugging me for almost half a decade now) but it didn’t move past conception (as an original story), until I discovered Ben and Rey. And so without further ado, here’s my first foray into the world of Reylo. I hope you like it! XOXO
> 
> P.S. There’s a prologue so don’t get thrown off by the weird chapter numbering. I’m also not that familiar with how tagging works in this fandom so I try to straddle the line between tagging potential triggers and not giving away the plot, so please mind the tags. If there’s something I’ve missed, just tell me and I’d take it under advisement. This will earn its EXPLICIT rating in the later chapters. Also, this work is unbeta'd and all mistakes are mine. No copyright infringement is intended. And, finally, all kudos/reviews/comments are always welcome! Please be kind. ❤️

Prologue

The high morning light felt like an insult upon her red-rimmed eyes. The morning sun was just too stark, too bright— her darkest sunglasses notwithstanding — for what to her, was a most dreadful day. Today, Andromeda Regina Huxley, or Rey to the very few who were dear to her, was losing her best friend, Ben, and there was no escaping it or the heartache that awaited her because of it.

He may have been her older brother Armie’s friend first, but to her, Ben had always been her dearest. They’ve always been close, and had only become closer especially after Armie had been shipped off to London to start University a year and a half ago.

Their families had been thrown together by their fathers having worked alongside each other for decades. His father had been an F1 racing champion, while hers owned and ran the team behind it. They were virtually raised together, with Armie, Ben and her being but a year or so apart in age and always being dragged along to wherever the race schedule brought their parents. But growing up was hard, as she was finding out. She was barely 16 and her life felt as though it was already horribly falling apart.

  
Everything changed six months ago, when Ben had tragically lost his dad, Han, in a car accident. They had been sideswiped by a drunk driver in a collision that was so great, the car had been left lurching on its side. Han had been able to get his son out but his injuries were too great for him to survive. He had died in the hospital. 

Ben, who had woken up after spending almost a month in a coma, had a hard time believing what happened. It was hard enough for him to have lost the chance to say goodbye to his dad. It was worse still to have his presentation as Alpha complicate all that. 

Rey sighed. She had tried to help him and his mother, Leia, through it, but Ben had been inconsolable, angry, and stubbornly set on destroying his life. He withdrew from everybody. He had fallen in with a bad crowd, and if it wasn’t for the courtesy extended to him by way of his mother’s royal ties, he’d have been thrown in jail after having been caught in a drug raid.

In her desperation, Leia had staged an intervention and it was last night when everything came to a head, as an unwilling Ben was confronted by what he thought was the ultimate betrayal.

_“Oh, no, no, no. You don’t get to do this, Mother!”_ Ben spat as he saw the people Leia had gathered. Unfortunately, she had been the only one his age. 

_“Benjamin Bail Skywalker Solo!” His mother had shouted back, as he stormed away from the crowd and made his way up to his room. “You come back here right this instant!”_

_“No!” He bellowed, “I wish you had died instead of dad!”_

_And that singular pronouncement had Rey standing up from her spot on the chaise and following after him._

_“I told you to —“_

_But Rey cut him off before he could even finish, “Shut it! I’m not leaving you! You can’t make me.”_

_At his indignant silence, she continued pressing forward, “For the past few months, I’ve let you run roughshod over your mother, over me. But that ends now. How dare you speak to your mother like that?”_

_“Do you even hear yourself, Ben?” She said as she roughly turned him towards his wardrobe mirror. “Do you even see yourself?”_

_Ben swatted her hands away, and screamed as he turned on her, “You don’t understand!”_

_Rey took an involuntary step back. He had never raised his voice at her. Ever. And that tiny bit of fear that registered on her face had immediately taken the wind out of his sails._

_“Leave, Rey,” he said as he slumped by the foot of his bed, pressing the heels of his hands into his eyes to keep his tears from escaping. He was exhausted, defeated, and had zero fucks left to give. “Just leave.”_

_Rey would not let him drive her away again. And so she went to him and hugged him as close to her as he would allow._

_"It's all my fault, Rey. Mine. I’m sorry. I’m so, so sorry," he sobbed._

_“Oh, Ben,” she lamented, taking his hands away from his face and settling them around her waist instead. She cradled him and laid a kiss on the top of his head as he desperately clung to her. It was the first time she’d seen Ben cry after his father’s death and she was determined to be there for her friend._

  
And now he was set to leave with his uncle for Alderaan-Naboo, a small Eastern European country and home to his family’s royal seat, just to get some distance from all this. 

"I'm leaving,” he said, his rough voice startling her out of her dreary thoughts. He had taken a seat beside her on his mother’s garden swings. He kept staring away from her, probably in an effort to make this as painless as possible.

“I know,” she answered as she studied him through her shaded glasses. His dark hair was dishevelled but better kempt than his recent usual, his eyes which were probably as red and swollen as hers were framed with black wayfarers, and his face, though gaunt, was cleanly scrubbed and had gotten back a little of its color. It was probably the first time he’d been sober in a while.

Leia had called her this morning, informing her of his decision to leave. She’d bet that it hadn’t been a pleasant conversation between mother and son, but lately, nothing with Ben ever was. Leia thanked her for Ben’s coming around and pleaded with her to come see him before he left.

It was a painful, but necessary goodbye. Rey knew that. Ben needed to leave more than he needed to stay, and he needed her to put on a brave face and see him off. 

"I've been saving this for your birthday. But since I'm sure you'll be off partying in the French Riviera or some other exotic location with your model friends by that time, I'm going to give it to you now," she said hoping that her voice came off as teasing. 

"Rey..." Ben said, looking at her then, almost speechless, as she pushed a cloth-covered parcel into his hands. 

"Come on, open it," she prodded.

He carefully lifted the cloth, opened the box, and found a set of pens and nibs — vintage by the looks of it, but all of them in good condition. "Where did you find these?" He asked, as he ran his fingers thoughtfully against the ornate scrollwork on the pens’ metal barrels.

"In an estate sale a while back. The original owner came here at the turn of the century. His grandniece said that this set had been handed down from father to son, through three generations. They were poets, I think."

"These are beautiful, Rey," he said as he gave her a hug. It was the first one he had initiated in a while and the fragility of it threatened to break her resolve. 

"Promise me you'll put these to good use, okay?” She murmured as she quickly slipped out of his embrace. If she didn’t let go of him then, she never would. So she placed her palm against his face instead, in an effort to preserve their connection for a few more precious moments, “Write to me or something, yeah?”

“Yeah, I promise,” he answered, pressing his cheek into her palm in an instinctive bid to soothe them both. 

“Take care, Ben,” she said, as she fondly traced his cheek with her thumb, before standing up with a wistful smile and leaving him with a final wave goodbye.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Ten Years Later

  
  


He made it. Finally. He may be a couple of days early (or some might think, a few years too late) but Ben was finally home. He hadn’t been sure if he’d make it through London’s Friday afternoon traffic, but he had. After successfully ditching Artoo, his driver-slash-valet-slash-bodyguard, he’d quickly made his way to his family’s country estate just outside the city on his rented BMW X5.

The driveway had been littered with a number of flashy cars, so he’d automatically headed for the service garage. He would rather not intrude upon his mother when she was entertaining, lest he be forced to endure the singular dullness of small talk. And so here he was, slipping in through the back door just like old times.

And he hadn’t even taken a few steps into the house when he was greeted by another very familiar sight.

Rey was in Leia’s old kitchen, taking her time and getting away from everything. She’d just gone down to the cellar to get a few more bottles of wine. She didn't really have to do anything (she could have rang Leia’s staff, who were busy in the newer, bigger kitchen, for the task), but she needed some time to compose herself... to be okay with all this, knowing that if things were a little different, if she had been a little less broken, all this happiness could have been hers. 

But it wasn’t meant to be. Now her ex was engaged, barely three months after they broke up, and to someone whom she would not wish on her worst enemy. Well, scratch that. Who was she kidding? Maybe they deserved each other.

“Rey?”

She looked at the person calling her name and it didn’t even take a second more before she was rushing towards him.

“Ben! It’s so good to see you,” she said as she hugged him to her and buried her face into his chest. 

His arms automatically came around her in answer. He rubbed his cheek on the crown of her head too, in an unconscious thank you for the warmth of her welcome. In truth, he hadn’t expected it. They haven’t really spoken much in the last 5 years, and the 5 years before that hadn’t been that great either. He’d been an angry little shit and it had taken years upon years of hard work to get to where he was today. And much of that was really thanks to her, because she had had the courage to confront him all those years ago. She had been the voice inside his head throughout most everything, and he always regretted the fact that he hadn’t been as careful or as caring with her as she had been with him, especially with everything that has happened to her. He’d found out too late about her mother’s death and her subsequent abduction — she’d been well into her recovery when news reached him and he couldn’t have done anything about it except to offer her his sympathies from afar. 

_Maybe this could be a fresh start._

He kissed the top of her head and felt her burrow further into him.

“I’ve missed you,” he whispered. It felt too good to not do it again, so he kissed her once more for good measure. 

“So have I,” Rey answered, as all the tension slipped away from her. She hadn’t been thinking at all when she rushed to him. Maybe it was the unexpected surprise of seeing him again after so long that had dispensed with all the awkward barriers her conscious brain would have put in their way. When Leia told her a week ago that Ben was coming back, she hadn’t known what to do or what to say when she saw him again. But now, she was truly thankful for how it had come to pass and was glad for the comfort of his presence.

They held each other for a few more moments, basking quietly in the assurance of each other’s embrace, and finding the better parts of their former selves slipping back into place as if the loneliness and hurt of the intervening ten years had not happened. They would have gone on forever if it hadn’t been for the sounds of his mother’s party escaping into their little slice of solitude.

“So, care to tell me why you’ve been hiding out here when there’s very obviously one of my mother’s parties in full swing?”

She groaned, refusing to answer, knowing that it will break the peace she’d somehow found.

“Rey…” he prompted, not letting her get out of it.

“Leia offered to host the engagement party of one of her underlings in the Diplomatic Corps. She invited me to attend because she thinks I don’t go out much. I said yes without really asking for the particulars because, well, you know how your mother is,” she huffed.

Ben smiled into her hair. Some things never really change.

“Bad thing is,” Rey continued, hoping that his shirt can muffle most of what she has to say next, “I just only now found out that Bazine is the one being engaged to the man your mom doesn’t even know is my very recent ex and the very reason why I haven’t been going out much in the first place.”

Bazine, he knew to be her childhood nemesis, but it was this “very recent ex” that had given him pause. Something about her confession didn’t read right. He gently raised her face to him so that he could see her eyes when she answered his next question: “So which were you: jilted lover or slutty sidepiece?”

The guilty sheen on her eyes, coupled with the half-mortified, half-angry expression on her face, told him everything he needed to know, but of course, he wanted to have the truth from her.

“Let’s not kid ourselves here,” he said, as he smoothed the vertical creases between her eyebrows. “You wouldn’t be hiding if any of it had ended amicably and I’m reading a mix of resentment and shame here, so help me out.”

“You’re right,” Rey sighed, now just remembering his uncanny ability to pinpoint her moods whenever he bothered to try.

“So?”

“Both” — she said, then quickly corrected herself — “No, more like he’s a two-timing cad. There. Are you happy now?”

“No, of course not,” he said with a determined look on his face. “You’ve been jilted by the scum of the earth and I won’t rest until we get you some payback. So, take me to my mother and let me crash this party in style. We’ve got work to do.”

“Are you really sure you want that?” Rey teased, knowing his long held aversion to his mother’s social functions, even as she began to tidy him up a bit. She had not even finished dusting his shoulders, when Leia’s butler barged into the kitchen.

“Miss Rey —” an elderly gent began to call out, but the shock of seeing Ben stopped him from saying more.

Ben smiled at the expression on the older man’s face. C3PO’s real name had been a mouthful for Ben as a kid, so Ben had taken to calling him by his initials instead. Han had reinforced the habit and soon, everyone, including Rey, had followed suit. 

“Master Ben!” The butler exclaimed. “How... how wonderful! We weren’t expecting you tonight. I take it Artoo will be coming shortly?”

“You know how it is C3,” Ben said as he patted the butler on his shoulder. “Now bring us to my mother, old chap. You know how she gets when her guests” — he said, tilting his head towards Rey — “suddenly disappear on her.” 

The butler smiled as he guided the erstwhile duo out of the kitchen. “Right you are, sir. Right you are.”


	3. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Rey finally crash the party!!!

Chapter 2

  
  


“Ma’am,” C3PO said as he called Leia’s attention. Her intricately coiffed hair made it easy to spot her amid the sea of dignitaries and minor nobles from Alderaan-Naboo and its surrounding states.

“Yes, C3?” she acknowledged, as she turned away from her guests. 

The butler gestured towards Ben and Rey, who were arm-in-arm beside him.

“Oh, Rey, I’ve wondered where you’ve been. I was just about to—” 

Ben cleared his throat to divert his mother’s attention. It was not unusual for her to miss him entirely at two paces distance downwind, being that he had almost a foot-and-a-half on her in terms of height, making her sightline fall squarely at the bottom of his sternum.

“Ben!” Leia said in shocked recognition, quickly moving to the tips of her toes to embrace and kiss her son. “What a surprise!”

They’d come a long way from not really speaking to this more affectionate relationship. Ben’s time away had given him a new perspective on his parents, especially his mother, the erstwhile Princess Royal turned Foreign Minister. He had learned about all her sacrifices, including her willingness to go into exile for him and his father to be able to lead a life of relative normalcy, away from the pressures of public life. It hadn’t come easily, but they’d been working on their relationship for the past several years and he was glad that they were now able to carry on comfortably like this.

“Hello, Mother,” he replied as he bent himself almost in half to return the gesture. 

His uncle Luke, who was his mother’s twin and the reigning monarch of Alderaan-Naboo (and incidentally his boss too, for want of a better term), had ordered him to work with his mother as a special attaché to the Diplomatic Corps. Luke told him that he already had enough years to finally work out his aggressions in the Royal Armed Forces, and that he now had to learn how to sue for peace. And who better to learn from, Luke said with a fond chuckle, than Leia, whose political savvy kept the High Council from outrightly stripping her of her titles after her scandalous (i.e. politically unsanctioned) marriage. 

Leia patted Ben’s cheek before turning back to Rey. It was difficult to keep his mother away from her intended target for too long. 

“I’ve had to send C3 to find you, dear,” she lightly admonished, laying the same hand that touched his cheek on the younger woman.

“Oh, he found us alright,” Ben insinuated, as Rey blushed under Leia’s subtle chiding. 

Leia glared at him in a silent bid to make him behave but Ben just playfully shrugged her off. He and Rey had an audience to play to and revenge to exact, so no amount of discipline will stop him from doing exactly the opposite.

“Anyway, now that you’re both here, I’d like you to meet Deputy Foreign Minister Poe Dameron and his fiancée, Miss Bazine Netal,” she said, by way of introduction.

“We’ve met, Poe and I,” Ben said, while not so subtly squeezing the man’s offered hand, after finally having uncovered the identity of Rey’s ex. He wasn’t at all surprised that the power-hungry bastard had the temerity to do what he did to Rey. Ben did not have a very high esteem for the ex-fighter pilot turned career politician either, having crossed paths once too often during their military careers. Ben had to give it to the other Alpha though. Aside from a passing glance of recognition, his poker face didn’t falter one bit when his eyes had landed on Rey.

“And I think Miss Netal and I are acquainted through Rey,” Ben continued, as he smiled and lifted Rey’s hand to his lips instead of extending a hand to Bazine. The other woman had been effectively left hanging, having begun to offer hers to him.

Leia, who had not missed her son’s subtle but vicious rebuff, smoothly jumped in, “Oh, then I trust that you know Poe’s parents: Admiral Kes Dameron and Commander Shara Bey.”

“Of course,” Ben said as he shook both of their hands. He was rather friendly with the now retired Admiral after learning that he was an avid fan of his father’s legendary racing career.

“Your Royal Highness,” the elder couple greeted him in unison.

“Please, none of that, Admiral, Commander,” Ben smiled at his mother’s friends. “You know I’m not one to stand on ceremony, especially when I’m the one crashing the party,” he said, doing away with people having to formally address him. It was a pet peeve of his, but unfortunately, his uncle naming him as heir had made it an annoyingly regular part of his life. 

“But I’d like you to meet Miss Andromeda Regina Huxley, a very dear friend of mine,” he added, as he ushered Rey forward.

Shara nodded at her with a smile, while Kes shook her hand, even as he teased Ben, “I never thought I’d see the day, young man, when you have finally gotten a lovely lady on your arm. Wherever have you been hiding her?”

“Just out back,” Ben answered dryly. 

Rey blithely smacked his chest as good-natured laughter erupted from Kes, Shara and Leia. Poe managed a polite smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Bazine, however, just gave Ben a look that would’ve killed him if it could.

“No, seriously, Sir. Her family owns Huxley Motors, and not only does she have the keys to the garage, she actually designs the cars,” Ben bragged, recalling the little things he’d picked up about her from his mother, a few news reports, and, more than a couple of Holonet searches over the years. 

“No way?!” Kes asked, with his eyes almost bulging out of his head. “You mean _the_ Huxley Motors with the F1-rated facility just on the other side of this house?”

Ben nodded, even as Rey huffed beside him.

“Oh, Ben,” she quailed.

“What?” Ben chided in mock affront. “You’re being entirely too modest, Rey. Besides, the Admiral here is a fan of your cars. He’s been collecting Huxleys for decades! Isn’t that right, Sir?”

The gentleman nodded. “I must confess that while I own a few of your classics, I find myself enjoying your newer lines more and more. Those TIE-series Silencers handle like a dream. Putting those vortex generators in them was genius,” he said, making Rey blush yet again. It had been her idea to bring over the technology from their F1 cars into their production models.

“Oh, here we go!” Shara jokingly complained, knowing that once her husband started to talk shop, it could last until well into the morning.

“We’ll leave you to it, Father,” Poe said, capitalizing on the opportunity to leave. “Lots of other guests to greet.”

“Fine, fine, off you go,” Kes said as he lightly slapped his son’s shoulder. He knew that he bored his progeny to death with his talk of cars and he hadn’t really found any common ground with his soon-to-be daughter-in-law (and not for want of trying).

Poe subtly bowed to Ben, which Ben acknowledged with his own equally surreptitious nod. While there was a certain animosity he’d held towards the man, Ben had to keep up appearances as Dameron worked directly under his mother. He wondered though if Rey had caught Bazine’s face. The lady was _not_ happy.

“Why don’t we get you that bottle of pinot gris you’ve been asking about, Shara?” Leia asked, effectively excusing her and her friend from the oncoming conversation.

“Sure,” the woman answered excitedly. “I won’t say no to that.”

***

They had chatted with the Admiral about a great many things and Ben was glad that the older gentleman had successfully drawn Rey into the conversation. She’d been happy to speak to the Admiral about her latest projects, and had even enthusiastically agreed to tour the old man around Huxley Motors’ testing facility. But it wasn’t long before she had suddenly turned glum, so much so that he’d needed to steal her away for a dance, if only to provide some cover for her lack of attention.

“We would be honored, Sir, but I think this is one of our songs,” Ben said, answering the admiral’s invitation to dinner even as he excused both he and Rey from the gentleman’s company.

”Oh, do go ahead, Ben. I have to spare your mother from my wife’s love affair with wine anyway,” Kes flippantly replied, as he similarly made his excuses. His wife being somewhat of an amateur sommelier was a fact that was known to all their friends.

As he had made his way back to his wife and the Princess, he couldn’t help but smile. He had been delighted to see the Crown Prince’s interactions with Rey. He had been worried about the young man adopting his uncle’s celibate rule, especially when Ben had not really shown any interest in finding a mate all these years. While King Luke had done his level best to keep Alderaan-Naboo on an even keel, the Admiral believed that his country needed the rule of a truly bonded couple who could sire a number of strong and healthy pups to secure its posterity and bring it into the greatness it deserved.

The Prince’s singular regard for the woman in his arms was an encouraging development, and it looked like he wasn’t alone in his thinking, as he saw many eyes turn with interest towards the strikingly handsome couple.  
  
Ben, however, had been too worried about Rey to notice the crowd’s growing fascination.

“Any reason why you turned gloomy when Kes insisted that we stay for dinner?” he asked, as he led her to move in time with the music. 

“It’s just been… this has just been surreal, is all,” she admitted. “You do realize that it took you to introduce me to Poe’s parents, right? We were together almost a year, and tonight’s the first time I’ve met them. And hearing that they’ve known Bazine all along…”

Ben drew her closer to him. “I’m so sorry,” he said. It hadn’t even registered with him until then.

“Don’t be,” she answered as she swayed with him. “I was the bloody idiot. At least, I could probably wrangle a business deal out of it,” she added with a small smile, recalling how ecstatic Admiral Kes had been once he’d found out that Huxley Motors was thinking of expanding its operations.

“Are you sure you would be okay to stay throughout dinner?” Ben asked as he twirled her around.

“As long as I get your dessert,” she replied with a smirk once she was squarely back in his arms.

***

Ben had wanted an audience and it didn’t take long until he had all eyes on him — not that he cared, really. He was the highest ranking Alpha in attendance, and naturally, he had command of the room, even if he was essentially crashing the party. But Rey had had enough of the drama, so during dinner, he had eschewed his seat at the head table in deference to her, and they had instead situated themselves at one of the sparsely occupied tables in the back row.

Rey, on her part, had wanted to lay low and eat in peace, but it was plain to see that Ben had begun to attract attention. As it is with his mother’s more casual soirees, guests tended to circulate and it wasn’t long before their table had filled up with a few more of his well-wishers and a number of whom Ben had introduced either as government officials or landed gentry from Alderaan-Naboo.

Instead of being buggered by it, however, she welcomed the opportunity to observe him, especially since he wasn’t overly preoccupied by dancing attendance upon her. She was silently amused by the sheer contrast between old Ben and _this_ Ben, who was uncharacteristically adept at small talk. She had been the one who had steered him through these kinds of things when they were younger, especially when their parents had dragged them into the more formal functions he had dreaded like the plague. Now, he had apparently grown into the skill, and was even quite clever at it, even if a subtle glint of annoyance would escape him every once in a while. 

She would distract him then, by transferring a slice of her roasted beetroot into his plate, which he would quickly devour with a piece of steak. When she was herself drawn into conversation, he’d slip a piece of horseradish into hers without missing a beat. She was secretly pleased that he remembered their silly game. They would play it all the time when they were younger, especially when both their parents had been strict about eating their vegetables. They had solved that problem by offloading the ones they didn’t like onto the other’s plate and seeing as they complemented each other so well in their preferences, they had done it ever since. 

Dessert, however, had been another matter entirely since Ben was known to prefer this part of the meal over everything else, so much so that his parents had taken to squirreling away double servings just for him. This time, however, he’d given her his portion in keeping with her request, even if it was chocolate — his favorite. But the chocolate-chipotle cake had been so good, she hadn’t even thought about it when she scooped up a portion and told him to taste. And he didn’t even blink when he accepted her treat-laden spoon into his mouth. It wasn’t until after that she realized that they had an audience, but when she quietly looked around their table, it was as though she hadn’t just committed a terribly impolite faux pas, so she gladly went on as if nothing happened.

But Rey could not have been more wrong.

The people of Alderaan-Naboo have so largely come to accept the possibility of the Prince following his uncle’s ascetic example, that to see him positively dote on a woman in public had been a veritable shock to their systems. To witness them dance was one thing, but to see them eat off each other’s plates had all but confirmed the wild speculations that had been spreading since earlier that evening.

And to Bazine’s ever eternal consternation, the society papers of that weekend had hit the stands with news, not of her engagement, but of the Crown Prince’s rumored mate and the prospect of Alderaan-Naboo’s first Royal Wedding in more than half a century!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love it when everybody stans Reylo, but this is going to be a slow-ish burn... Thanks again for reading! Comments/reviews/kudos are always welcome! XOXO


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a short one but I hope it still satisfies nonetheless. This will feature angsty Ben through and through so, without further ado...

Chapter 3

  
  


Ben was yawning as he drove his rental to the front of the Huxley’s pool house. Rey had directed him there, when he insisted on driving her home.

He yawned again just before he rolled to a stop. Dinner had finally gotten to him and it looked like it had already gotten the better of Rey, who was now lightly snoring in the passenger seat.

It was the first time he really looked at her that night. She had grown into her features, he thought, growing even more beautiful in his estimation. If he squinted hard enough, he was sure to see the stubborn smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose— the only holdover from their childhood.

He let out an exasperated sigh.

He’d loved her for as long as he’d known her. It was just too bad that there was no future for them. 

He was just too broken for that. He had a damaged pituitary gland (whatever the hell that was), and a severely deficient sense of smell because of the head injuries he’d sustained in the car crash that killed his father and very nearly killed himself. And so, while he had retained most of his physical Alpha attributes, he could not and would not, however, be able to scent his mate’s heat, knot her, or give her babies. In short, he was essentially a Beta who was useless in every regard to an Omega — or, at least that was how the doctors had laid it out back then when explaining the extent of his injuries. Heck, he hadn’t even popped a single knot ever after that first time.

In an even more cruel twist of fate, he had caught Rey’s true Omega essence, just a little over a week before that fateful night, right at the moment he had reflexively taken her bloodied finger into his mouth, after she had accidentally injured it while checking on his car’s engine — the same car that they had carefully restored, with a little help from his father, for his previous year’s birthday. 

He had just about gone bonkers, having tasted and scented her, that he hadn’t really known what to do with himself then, except to dazedly get back into the car after she got it started again. And he had such a poor understanding of his first rut, being so blindsided by it having come a year earlier than expected, that it had driven him to drown out the sudden barrage of incessant smells, unrelenting sounds and disturbing urges by going on a bender. He remembered calling his dad to pick him up at some bar that he couldn’t even now put a name to. He’d like to think that he had drunkenly confessed everything to his father, including his love for Rey and his suspicion that it was she who had triggered his early presentation, because he vaguely recalled his dad chuckling as he congratulated Ben on officially becoming an Alpha and for having discovered his mate so early on. Little did they know that as they celebrated with joyous hugs, that it was also going to be the night that would trash their lives forever.

He had been mourning the loss of his father, yes, but it had actually been the grief of an unrealized future and the anger at the ruination of his most fervently held dreams that had him lashing out at everything and everyone, most of all Rey.

He had started to resent her for catalyzing the chain of events that ruined their future and he had begun hating himself too, for his pettiness towards her, who was someone he’d professed, at least to his father, to love and love greatly. But he couldn’t help the way he felt. His Alpha had been too new, too raw and too wild to have been easily mastered. So Ben had turned to alcohol and then to drugs to stem the rising tide of his bitterness, but they did nothing but fail to quell such a deep and profound sorrow. 

It took the fear in Rey’s eyes the night of their final confrontation ten years ago for him to understand the monster he’d become. It was then that he realized that he would much rather leave before all his seemingly boundless feelings festered into hate because he knew, deep down, that Rey didn’t deserve any enmity, least of all from him. 

And it had taken him years upon years of intensive therapy, rigorous military training, and even a stint in a monastery, to overcome the dark bitterness he’d allowed into his soul. Letting go of the idea of them had been one of the hardest things he has ever had to do. And even then, it was still Rey’s voice that was a near constant inside his head.

And that was perhaps why he didn’t really want to look too closely into that almost giddy delight his heart may have felt at her warm welcome of him tonight or at the pleasure that came with her satisfaction as she fed him from her spoon. Maybe he still harbored a secret hope, that maybe, someday, somehow, they’d find a way to still be together in spite of everything. 

But of course, he knew that reality always had a way of rearing its ugly head. And yet, he was still tempted to indulge in his little fantasy maybe a while longer because it had been so long since he’d felt as calm, content and complete as he was now, just watching her snore, knowing that this woman had trusted him enough to allow herself to sleep so soundly in his presence.

He sighed yet again, as he slumped his head against the steering wheel. He needed to sober up. He was so punch drunk in love again that he knew he had to level out before he devastated himself once more. 

And that, he surmised, was the greatest tragedy of his situation — to love and to love completely, but always, always in secret and always from afar.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a pre-christmas treat! Happy Holidays! 🎄

Chapter 4

  
  


Rey stretched as she woke up to a bright Saturday morning, while taking in the chirping of the birds and the generous sunlight that was streaming through her bedroom window.

She doesn’t remember how exactly she’d gotten there but she had known by instinct that it was because of Ben.

 _Ben_ , she sighed. 

Ben, who probably had to carry her up a flight of stairs using all those hard muscles he had grown in the ten years that they hadn’t seen each other. Ben who had patiently taken off her strappy heels before tucking her in. Ben, who had left a note by her bedside table, written in that ridiculously elegant script of his, telling her to call him or his mother whenever she awoke so that they’ll know she’s okay. Ben, who also told her in the same note that they would gladly have her over for breakfast, lunch, tea or even dinner, or whichever meal at whichever time she preferred. 

_Sweet, sweet Ben_ , she sighed yet again.

Was she crazy to be feeling this way? Like it’s the best sleep she’d had in a while. Like she’s settled somehow. Like the ball in her gut that had been there for so long had loosened...

Come to think of it, she had always associated Ben with all that had been good in her world, despite their hasty and painful separation ten years ago. He was the one he went to when her house was too silent. She spent more time with the Solos than she did at home, especially when Armie was sent off to boarding school. Her parents for some reason, didn’t want her too far (which she hadn’t really understood because she was left mostly to the care of staff anyway), so she had a tutor instead, at least when she was younger. When she was done with her lessons (and she was _always_ done early), she would wander to the Solos— well she would take her bicycle— to wait for Ben, who went to a nearby international school. And when he came home, they would either hang out in his bedroom or the den, or in the garage, if Han had a particular project that they helped with. And she even spent more than a few dinners and weekends with them.

She recalled those times pretty well, and all throughout that time she didn’t remember Ben smelling that good. He always smelled clean— don’t get her wrong— and he always had, even when he was sweaty from working at the garage. But last night, last night had been a revelation.

She didn’t know when it happened but her nose had picked up Ben’s distinctive mix of sandalwood, bergamot, with a subtle hint of vetiver and a light touch of clove that were layered over something she couldn’t quite put a finger on. She had never smelled anything like it nor had she ever experienced the contrasting set of emotions his scent had inspired. It had such a curious effect on her, being equal parts, soothing, invigorating, and borderline intoxicating. Other scents had faded into the background, and there was some little part of herself that had wanted to douse her whole body with it so much that she was reluctant to change out of her party clothes since it still had traces of him on it. 

_Bzzzzttt!_

The loud buzz at the door had interrupted her thoughts. That must be her brother and his girlfriend. She had totally forgotten they were coming to spend the weekend with her.

Good thing she had let Mitaka, the family steward, turn down their room yesterday, she thought as she quickly made her way down the stairs to greet her guests.

***

Armitage Randall Huxley had just opened the door when his little sister’s excited voice pierced the morning air.

“Armie!” She shouted as she collided with him, all while giving him a hug and planting a kiss on his cheek. She was the only one who called him that. Everybody else, including his girlfriend Rose, called him Hux. 

“Rosie!” She then exclaimed as she switched her embrace over to his girl.

Rose’s eyebrows shot up even as she returned his sister’s hug. She threw him a bewildered look.

 _Somebody’s in a good mood_ , her eyes seemed to say.

Not that they were complaining. It just felt a little off, because the Rey that greeted them had been more of the old Rey — the sunny, cheerful, and bubbly Rey — the Rey before they’d lost their mother, the Rey before her abduction. Rose hadn’t known her then. All Rose had been familiar with was the subdued, quiet version of his sister, whose smiles didn’t often light up her eyes. 

_There was definitely something they’ve missed._

He had actually begun coming back home with Rose in tow whenever their schedules allowed. And free time during his neurosurgery training and her reproductive medicine fellowship had been much too little for his liking, especially when he thought that his sister was on the verge of a crisis.

“Your room is ready,” Rey said, as she welcomed them into the pool house. That was such a misnomer for what actually was a 3-storey luxury villa, with three bedrooms, a studio office, four baths, a full open-concept kitchen, dining, and living area occupying the first floor, and a wide deck out back that happened to open up to the pool. It used to double as a guest house and a staging area for summer parties way back when their parents were still entertaining, but it had fallen to disuse ever since their mother’s death. Rey had refurbished and modernized it, and called it home whenever she had needed to come down to the tracks to oversee some business. However, after that wanker, Dameron, broke up with her, she had established this house as her main residence.

In truth, Hux had fought the post-break-up move, wanting Rey to stay with him and Rose so that they could keep an eye on her. He had felt that she was way too isolated out here in the country, and he’d secretly feared that if anything were to happen, he wouldn’t be there to help. But Rey would have none of it, saying that she was happier heading the research and special projects divisions out here, than working with their father in the corporate offices in the city. Hux had reluctantly relented after extracting a promise from her to call him everyday. He knew how strained her relationship with their father had become. 

He sighed.

He was a scion of a motor company that had been handed down for generations and by abdicating that, he’d left Rey all alone to carry the mantle. Sometimes he thought if it would have been better if he just became what his father had wanted.

Hux shook his head to clear it. There were just too many thoughts in his brain for him to process this early in the day.

“There’s juice and milk in the fridge… though I have yet to ring Mitaka for breakfast,” Rey rambled on as she went further into the house. He followed her, with his and Rose’s bags.

But his brain was struck by something. 

_Wait. What?_

His sister had bare feet and had greeted them in what looked to be last night’s cocktail dress.

Rey faced them again, “I’ll be with you in a bit. Just give me a minute to shower.”

Hux let his eyes roam her face. Her make-up was smudged. Her hair was a mess. And there was a lingering scent on her that was definitely not her own. _Alpha_ , his brain supplied.

“Okay?” She asked casually.

_What in the bloody fucking hell?! Did he just catch his sister at the tail-end of a walk of shame?_

The shock had left him speechless, so it was Rose who answered for him, “Yeah, no problem.”

As soon as Rey disappeared up to her room, Rose nudged him with an almost disbelieving smirk on her face.

“Did your sister just score?”

If he could, he’d have chided her for putting it in one of the crassest ways possible but he was still, at that moment, unable to make a sound. 

Rose just giggled, probably at the weird face he was making, before she stood on her toes and planted a quick peck on his lips.

“I’ll go find out,” she said, before leaving another kiss and stepping back. 

“And that should give you enough time to call Mitaka for brunch by the pool. You promised me a good summer weekend and that starts with food!” She said, as she turned and hurried after Rey.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Good tidings! Happy Holidays! Hope this finds all of you safe! 🎄

Chapter 5

“Hey, Rey?” Rose called out as she knocked and opened Rey’s door.

“In the bathroom,” Rey yelled. 

Rose started towards her friend’s voice, making sure to avoid the stuff that was strewn all over the floor. It still amazed her how diametrically opposite the siblings were: Hux was almost pathologic in his need to keep things neat, while his sister was unapologetically messy with a capital M.

Rey had already wrapped herself up in a terry towel and was in the midst of brushing her teeth, when Rose found her in the bathroom. “What’s up?” 

“Hux is calling Mitaka to set up by the pool. You think you’re up for brunch?” Rose answered. It hadn’t escaped her notice that with all the chaos of her friend’s room, Rey had neatly folded her cocktail dress and carefully tucked it in the far corner of her bathroom counter.

Rey nodded, and inquired between brush strokes, “Until when are you and Armie here for?”

“We were lucky to get people to cover us at the hospital until Monday, so we don’t have to leave until that afternoon.”

“That’s great!” Rey said, as she finished brushing and proceeded to clear her face of last night’s make-up. “That’ll give us more time.”

“What will you be up to this weekend?” 

“I’ll be totally free tomorrow. Today, I might have to take care of a few things at the tracks before I swing by Leia’s.”

“No dinner plans?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe,” Rey said, as she cleansed her face. She was wishing that Leia’s afternoon tea party wouldn’t run long. Maybe she can get out of it all together with Ben back.

“Will it include the new Alpha you’re seeing?”

That stopped Rey from sudsing her cheeks. “What are you talking about?”

“Come on, Rey,” Rose said as she tapped her own nose with her forefinger. “The nose doesn’t lie.”

“I’m not seeing anyone,” the brunette protested, as she continued lathering the frothy foam on her face.

“Rey, your brother just about died thinking that you just came home from a walk of shame,” Rose related. “We scented him all over you.”

“You did not!” Rey said, with an air of embarrassed indignation, as she flushed all the way down to her toes.

Rose can’t help but smirk. 

“Rose, I’m not seeing anyone,” Rey said, as she quickly doused her face with cold water. “But the Alpha is Ben, if you must know. He’s Leia’s son and an old family friend.”

“Right. _Friend_.”

“Yes! FRIEND,” Rey emphasized, as she entered the shower booth, which automatically frosted up once the door closed. “He just did me a favor at his mother’s party last night, being that Poe was there and he’s engaged to Bazine!”

“He’s what?!” Rose exclaimed at the news. She knew enough to be scandalized by the development.

“You heard me. _Engaged_ ,” Rey said, her words slightly muffled by the shower spray. “Frankly, if Ben hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have known what to do. I mean, I don't think I would have survived the night if Ben hadn’t kept me away from those two. Poe, I think I can handle. But Bazine… ugh!”

“Who’s Bazine?” Rose asked as she got comfortable on the spacious bathroom counter. Her friend’s story was getting interesting.

“Oh, she’s this mean girl from way back in boarding school. She made my life a living hell… And you know what? Poe and I were together for almost a year and yet Ben was the one who ended up introducing me to his parents! And if that didn’t happen, I wouldn’t have confirmed that _I_ was the other woman!”

“Hey! He’s the two-timing douchebag here and don’t you forget it!” Rose admonished, recalling Rey’s now apparently confirmed suspicion about Poe.

“But I couldn’t help but feel stupid!”

Rose kept quiet because she couldn’t really contradict that. She remembered Rey being extremely upset the night of the break-up that she’d ended up staying the weekend with her and Hux. Well, her. Hux had been out for a week-long conference then so Rose had been alone when an extremely pissed Rey came barging through the door. It took three pints of ice cream and a bottle of wine to calm her down. That was the first time that they had really bonded and they’ve been close ever since. 

“Truly, if Ben hadn’t been there,” Rey continued, with what to Rose sounded like a very loud but equally grateful sigh, “I’d have died from embarrassment!”

Rey was never this animated, especially about boys. Cars — that Rose understood. _But guys?!_

Rose’s interest was stoked. “So, what’s this Ben really like?” 

Rey’s quick description of him as “understanding, gentle and tall” was all Rose needed to hear to confirm her suspicions. 

_Someone has a crush_ , she thought, smiling to herself, as she listened to Rey gush on and on about her newfound White Knight.

***

Ben was getting a little antsy. It was already close to 10 o’clock in the morning and Rey hadn’t called.

He’d just finished his morning run when it occurred to him that she probably didn’t know his number so he had ventured to find his mother to ask for Rey’s.

Shirtless and sweaty, he didn’t expect to walk into the house to see people from last night still milling about his mother’s house. It appeared that the engagement party was not just a one night affair— it looked like it was going to last the whole weekend.

Luckily, C3 quickly diverted their attention, allowing him to escape to his room unnoticed.

He was just about to open his door when it swung away from him.

“Your Royal Highness,” Artoo, who had finally caught up to his wayward charge after getting ditched ( _yet again_ ) in the airport the afternoon before, greeted him with a smirk, knowing that it annoyed Ben to no end. 

“You’re lucky I can’t fire you,” Ben harmlessly retorted as he entered his room. By the man’s ready grin, relatively short stature and pudgy appearance, nobody would think that the cheeky valet was a war hero many times over and one of the King’s most trusted men, if not _the_ most trusted. Artoo had sworn a blood oath to protect and serve the Skywalker line, as most of their personal staff did (of their own accord, of course) — and the only one who could release him was Luke.

“Terribly unfortunate, Sir,” the valet answered unrepentantly. “Your mother left this for you,” Artoo continued while handing him a folded piece of paper.

> Ben Dear,
> 
> Since you’re here, I expect to see you at lunch. It’s time to meet some of the people you’ll be working with at the Embassy.
> 
> And would you please be so kind as to tour the gentlemen around town right after?
> 
> The ladies are having a spa day just before tea.
> 
> Love,
> 
> Your Mother

  
  


His mother was putting him right to work.

 _Ah, fuck it_ , he thought as he grabbed the landline and called Rey’s house from memory, hoping that the number still worked.

***

Rey was still finishing up in the shower, when Rose heard a knock. She quickly went to the door and answered it.

It was Mitaka, with a cordless phone in his hand.

 _Who still uses landlines?_ Rose thought as she threw a questioning glance at the steward. Comms were much more efficient. 

“It’s for Miss Rey,” he answered.

“Who is it?”

“A Mr. Ben Solo, ma’am.”

Rose urgently reached for the phone.

“Thanks,” Rose said, dismissing Mitaka by closing the door on his face. She hadn’t meant to be rude, really, but she was just too excited for the opportunity to sate her curiosity.

“Hello?” She ventured as she released the hold button on the handset.

“Rey?” came a deep voice.

“No, sorry. This is Rose, her friend. Rey can’t come to the phone right now.”

“Oh.”

“Would you like me to take a message?”

“That… that won’t be necessary. I’ll call again,” the voice quickly stammered. 

Rose, in large part, was more surprised that, for a supposedly longtime family friend, his accent was closer to hers than the Huxley siblings, but she needed to keep him on the line fast, so she blurted out the first thing that came into her head, “Why don’t you come by, instead? We’re having brunch by the pool in a while.”

“Ah… I don’t want to intrude.”

“You wouldn’t be intruding. In fact, you’ll be rounding out the table since her brother is also here,” Rose tossed in. She actually didn’t know much about Ben aside from what she’d heard from Rey, but she’d heard that Hux and he were friends, too. She was hoping that was still the case.

“Hux is there?”

“Yeah,” Rose confirmed. 

“All right then,” he answered after a pause. “I’ll be there in about 15 minutes... 20 tops.”

“Take your time,” Rose said. “Oh, and don’t forget to bring a bathing suit,” she added just before she ended the call. She suddenly remembered that sheer maillot Rey had bought on a whim two weekends ago. 

“Who was that?” Rey asked, as she peeked into the bedroom. She was expecting a call from her mechanics who were running tests for a prototype she had been working on.

“It’s Ben,” Rose answered. “He said he was coming over so I invited him to brunch,” she added, while smiling through her little white lie.

“Oh, okay,” Rey commented nonchalantly as she disappeared yet again into the bathroom.

“And Rey,” Rose called out as she followed her friend into her walk-in closet. “Remember that little swimsuit we bought? The one you promised to wear?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this latest update! BUT this might be the last for the year because I’ll be taking a pretty important exam come January. Need to focus for a bit. After that, this fic will be back on its usual semi-regular schedule.
> 
> Oh, and please let us all have a better, happier new year! We all deserve it! ❤️

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for giving this a chance! ❤️ I would really love to hear what you think about it. Kisses!


End file.
